If a brand-new browser with TLS 1.3, WebGL, an up-to-date Javascript engine, NPAPI plugins support, and other modern features for PowerPC Macs with Leopard was on your bingo card for 2026.. here it is. PowerFox is an open-source, up-to-date web browser that’s currently in beta, and is a gift for the PowerPC Mac platform.

Built from the same codebase as the 10.6 Intel variant, it isn’t a fork of TenFourFox/FireFox/etc; rather, is a project made by Jazzzny. The browser also includes modern cipher suites, and promises regular security patches. You may visit the PowerFox website to download it, get it from GitHub, or download it from our website.

System Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
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• PowerPC G4 or PowerPC G5 processor
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• 1 GHz processor or better for proper video playback
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• Also available for Intel as version 26.1.0 in 32-Bit and 64-Bit variations!

Download

• Mirror: PowerFox Browser PowerPC Beta – powerfox.jazzzny.me
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• Mirror 2: 26.2.0 PowerPC Beta – powerfox-browser – GitHub
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• Low End Mac: PowerFox_PowerPC_Beta.Zip – 61.8 MB

About

In post made on MacRumors, Jazzzny described PowerFox: “PowerFox is not a derivative of TenFourFox. Rather, it is a brand-new browser for PowerPC, built from the same codebase as the 10.6 Intel variant. To refresh your memory, this brings a modern web engine (UXP) with excellent support for the modern internet, with features such as OpenGL acceleration, coloured emoji, modern HTML/CSS/JavaScript support, container tabs, language packs, video codecs (no need for an “enabler”), and much more.”

(Pictured: BlueSky all logged-in in a Leopard UTM VM, no GPU acceleration)

Initially known bugs

• Unimplemented  JavaScript JIT (Just-In-Time) compiler – TFF and other browsers will have superior Javascript performance for now.
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• Some but not all SVG images render incorrectly.
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• Currently doesn’t render the css mask-image property properly on 10.5.
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• Below is a small list of websites which either myself or others have tested. Mileage may vary.

• Not included above: Spotify – The splash page and interface works, but as soon as you log in, there is an error message which freezes at “Playback of protected content is not enabled”.

Google and Google Maps

The modern Google splash page shows up, and Google Maps also shows the modern UI as well.

My own experiences

So far for the purposes of this article, I have PowerFox all fired up in a G4 VM in UTM on my M4 Mac mini, as for some reason the app keeps crashing in Sorbet Leopard in about the same way, on every PowerPC Mac. I’ll have to test out OEM 10.5.8 Leopard in a separate drive on the Dual 2.0 Power Mac G5 named “Moonshadow”.

• See: Attached crash report from my Power Mac G5
• See my Specs: Maximizing an AGP Power Mac G5 into space and beyond: 2025 Edition

It’ll launch, run for a few seconds without any black screen, and crash with an error log – whether or not it opens up in safe mode or not. Below is a video of what it looks like from the user end. I’ve tried a few different versions of PowerFox so far, even the latest GitHub beta which fixed OpenGL acceleration on ATI X1000 GPUs, (although I’m on an ATI Radeon X850XT).

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter whether or not I had an ATI Radeon X850XT or an Nvidia GeForce 6800 DDL – both GPUS resulted in the same exact crash. I tried this as a last ditch effort to see if the browser would launch at all, but ended up reverting to the X850XT.

What some others are saying

Here are some comments from other individuals who are trying out this browser in the Low End Mac community. Note how not everyone is having the same issues, and perhaps there is a unique set modifications or something in the software preventing the app from working for me in Sorbet. I’ll have to revisit this with Leopard 10.5.8.

• A LEM member: “Runs pretty well on a 2ghz early 05 PMG5 with a 6800 ultra, YouTube uses the GPU for 240p video decode too it seems since the card gets up to about 85c (at idle or using other browsers it stays at 72c)”
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• Someone else commented: “It actually runs fine on my 1.8GHz DP G5 running Sorbet Leopard, but I don’t know what’s different here. It did however crash twice on Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on that same PowerMac.”
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• Another, said: “my g5 quad can play 1080p 30 or 720p 60 YouTube.”
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• People are commenting in the original MacRumors post using said browser from their PowerPC Macs.

In Conclusion

It’s a work in progress, but it’s groundbreaking. For the browser to be this usable without full hardware acceleration, while others are claiming Intel-like performance, this may prove to even the playing field and to quote z970, as they put it best: “this is a completely new development platform altogether with entirely untapped potential, meaning PowerFox is easily the most significant software breakthrough for the average user to happen to these systems since the genesis of TenFourFox in 2010!”